The Story of Sweet Olive
Bill is one of the most humble people you will ever meet. He dresses modestly, lives simply and peacefully, cares deeply and never wants to offend anyone. He uses the humblest materials – recycled boards, discarded lumber, old doors, old windows, old tin, even paper towels used to soak up a varnish spill – to create masterpieces. And he gives all the credit to God.
Bill started painting Sweet Olive in 2003 when he retired from his “visual supervisor” job at Sears and finally had time to paint from the heart. A runner, he happened to take a break from a run one day when he was passing by the Louisiana Furniture Gallery. He noticed that the walls were empty. The thought occurred to him that he could paint a picture or two to make the gallery walls look better and perhaps even end up selling them. The Louisiana Furniture Gallery, a non-profit association, was willing to give it a try. So Bill found some wood that had fallen off a truck, found some tin and some old paint cans on the side of the road and started painting.
He and his brother lived in a condemned house in Ponchatoula’s “Milltown.” Sitting on his porch, Bill would often see his African American neighbors walking along the street, visiting with each other, doing their chores, tending to their children and celebrating life. He admired them the way he had admired his hard-working mother and grandmother. With an eye for form, he especially noticed the strength apparent in the lines of their backs and the proud tilt of their heads. He checked out art books at the Ponchatoula library. Sweet Olive came to life.
Often she is seen with a rosary in one hand and a sweet olive branch in the other, symbolic of Sweet Olive’s effort to build a bridge between cultures. Sweet Olive’s face is detailed in only a few of the paintings, but her facelessness does not mean she is a nobody. It means she is everybody. When people – regardless of race – look into Sweet Olive’s face, they see the faces of their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, their friends. What they see in Sweet Olive is whatever is in their own hearts. Sweet Olive’s body is full of expression as she joyfully raises her hands at a wedding ceremony, as she happily swings a child in the air, as she comforts a baby, as she harkens to the words of her pastor, as she dances, as she prays, as she holds a box of beautiful strawberries.
Stop by the Louisiana Furniture Gallery on Southwest Railroad Avenue in Ponchatoula or the Hemmerling Gallery at 3932 Magazine to see more of Sweet Olive.